Who is She?
by Lady Elizabeth of New York
Summary: There is a new teacher coming to Hogwarts. To everyone's she looks exactly like Lily Potter. Soon, Severus, Harry, Remus and later Sirius have to join together to find out who this Adela Caro is. And why she looks like Lily.
1. The Lily Clone

Her name was Adele Caro and she was going to be the new History of Magic teacher. Dumbledore said she had come highly recommended from Headmaster Espina upon switching schools. But this was not the usual part. This woman looked just like the late Lily (née Evans) Potter; she had the same dark red hair, the same green eyes and Severus Snape was shocked when he saw her.

When she sat down next to him at the staff table, he kept his eyes down, looking at the floor, preventing himself from staring. He hoped that she wouldn't try to talk to him, but he had no such luck.

"Are you Professor Snape?" she asked in a Spanish accent.

"Yes, I am," Severus said as nonchalantly as he could, "You must be replacing Professor Binns." He winced at his obvious comment; of course she was the new History of Magic teacher. There were only three teaching spots open this year and Hagrid and Professor Lupin had filled the other two.

Adele smiled at him. Despite the fact that Severus knew this couldn't possibly be Lily Potter, as she was dead and had been for twelve years, he still felt that pang of happiness at making her smile.

"I look forward to working with you, Professor Snape. A friend of mine told me that you would be difficult but I enjoy a challenge." she remarked. Severus nodded and looked away, pretending to look at Dumbledore who was about to speak. In reality, he was pleading with himself not to stare at her.

* * *

Unnoticed by Snape, sitting a few seats down the table from the pair, Remus Lupin was also wondering why she looked like Lily.

"Who is she?" Remus whispered to Hagrid.

"Tha' is Adele Caro, she's goin' ter be the new History o' Magic teacher," Hagrid answered.

"Oh, I didn't know that Dumbledore was hiring a new History of Magic Professor. What happened to Binns?" Remus questioned.

"Left. No one knows why; we think he just faded," Hagrid replied, "somethin' wrong, Remus?"

"She…it's just that she looks exactly like Lily would if she had lived," Remus remarked, staring at Adele as she talked to Snape. Something about them gave Remus the odd feeling of deja vu, "She has the same hair, eyes, face; everything."

"Hmm, she does look a bit like Lily. Jus' hope Harry'll be alrigh' being taught by a woman that looks like his mother." Hagrid commented.

* * *

Remus' eyes snapped to the Gryffindor table where Harry's friends were chatting away happily. Harry was also staring at Adele, his eyes wide in shock and Remus didn't blame him. He had a feeling that he, Harry and Severus were thinking the same thing: Who was this woman and why did she look like Lily Potter?

"Harry, Harry? What's wrong?" Hermione asked, getting annoyed.

"It's that new teacher I think, he's staring at her. Not that you could blame him, she's bloody..."

"Ron! She's old enough to be your mother!" Hermione exclaimed, a hint of jealously in her voice

"That _is_ my mother." Harry whispered.

"What?" Hermione asked, "Harry, what are you talking about? Your mum's is dead."

"Actually, if you think about it, that woman does look a lot like the woman in the pictures Hagrid gave you." Ron commented.

"Who is she, and why does she look so much like my mother?" Harry wondered.

"Maybe she's your mother's twin sister?" Hermione suggested.

"If she was Harry's aunt, why hasn't he heard from her in the past thirteen years?" Ron challenged, "I'd say that she's a ghost."

"She's not transparent, is she, Ronald?" Hermione snapped.

"Well she's definitely not Harry's mum's sister. So the only logical explanation is that she's a ghost or she has somehow risen from the dead," Ron retorted. Hermione rolled her eyes at him.

"Neither of those suggestions is logical," she said angrily.

"What are they fighting about now?" Ginny asked Harry with a sigh.

"Whether or not that woman is a ghost or my Mum's twin sister." Harry replied.

"Who? Professor Caro? I doubt she's either. Bill met her once when he was working in Spain for a year. He said that she lived in Spain her whole life," Ginny told him, "and she went to school there."

"Then who is she? And why does she look exactly like my mother?" Harry pondered.

* * *

"Albus," Minerva threatened angrily as she stormed into his office. Albus didn't even glance up from his parchment.

"Evening Minerva," he greeted her kindly, "Please wait one moment and I'll be right with you. Cornelius is in need of my advice and I said I would owl him tonight."

Minerva glared at him but she did as he was told and waited for him to finish.

"Now what can I do for you?" Albus asked calmly after a moment.

"You can tell me who Adele Caro is!" Minerva demanded.

"She is exactly who she says she is. Adele Caro." Albus told her.

"Then why does she look like Lily Potter?" Minerva questioned.

"I'm afraid I cannot answer that question," Albus said seriously.

"You can't answer because you are hiding something or because you don't know?" Minerva inquired, even though she had a feeling that it was the former.

Albus sighed. "Minerva, I'm sorry. I was sworn to secrecy and unfortunately I cannot reveal to anyone the reason for the resemblance between Lily and Adele," Albus answered softly, "I'm afraid that I must get back to work. Please go outside and inform Severus, who is listening at the door, what I have just told you."

Minerva glared at him but didn't say another word. She knew that getting information from Albus was like pulling teeth. She left the office in a huff.

"I hope you know what you are doing, Albus. You don't want to make another mistake." Dippet remarked from his portrait.

"I hope so too." Albus said softly. He didn't want to keep this a secret. He knew that they especially Harry, would be angry when they found out he knew. But the unbreakable vow he had made would prevent him from revealing the reason to anyone.


	2. Curiouser and Curiouser

"Good morning class!" Professor Caro greeted them cheerfully as she walked into the classroom.

Hermione watched the woman carefully. She definitely resembled Harry's late mother. But there was no spell that could bring back the dead and there was no way she was a ghost. Hermione reasoned that she must be related to Lily Potter in some way. That was the only explanation. But then why didn't she ever contact Harry and why didn't she have the same last name as Harry's mother?

Hermione's attention returned to Professor Caro when she called on Hermione. Professor Caro continued down class roster. She stopped at Harry's name. It might have been Hermione's imagination, but the professor looked puzzled when she called Harry's name as if she was trying to remember something about his name but couldn't recall what it was.

"I thought we'd start off today with a little quiz." Professor Caro remarked, putting the roll sheet away. There were a few groans. She raised her hands defensively, "Now, now, all I want to do is find out how much you know. I will not grade these quizzes."

Hermione couldn't help but to feel disappointed. What was the point of a quiz if you didn't get a grade?

But Hermione was determined not to look stupid. So she began writing down the answers to the questions as quick as she could, pushing the mystery of Professor Caro to the back of her mind.

* * *

Ron never paid much attention to Bill when he talked about his job. He'd rather listen to Charlie talk about his job. Dragons were always more exciting. But after he heard Ginny tell Harry about Bill meeting Professor Caro, there was something nagging at him at the back of his mind. It was something Bill had said to their mother about Professor Caro. Ron only remembered this because that was the Christmas Charlie had stayed in Romania.

Bill had said that Professor Caro acted strangely when Bill mentioned the name of a certain Death Eater. But Ron couldn't remember the name of that Death Eater for the life of him.

"Ten minutes," Professor Caro told them, bringing Ron back to the present. He had been so busy thinking about Bill that he had forgotten that he was in the middle of a quiz. Ron supposed that he could owl Bill after class. Right now he needed to focus on the quiz. He would probably never hear the end of it from Hermione if he failed a practice quiz.

Now when was the first goblin rebellion?

* * *

"I know who you're waiting for and I think it's a bad idea," Severus sneered coldly as he walked up to Remus who was standing in front of the History of Magic classroom.

"Since when do you care about what I do?" Remus asked crossly. He was more annoyed at the fact that Severus always seemed to know when something was amiss. In fact, it was as if he appeared out of thin air.

"Look Lupin, anyone with eyes and half a brain can see that Adele looks exactly like Lily," Severus whispered, making sure that no one could hear them, least of all Adele, "But from what I heard from Dumbledore, she has no idea who Lily is or that she looks like her. We shouldn't scare her by staring at her or even mentioning Lily's name."

Remus sighed. "I suppose you are right. Scaring her is the last thing I want to do. But we have to do something. There has to be a reason she looks like Lily. And we need to find out what it is." Remus remarked. Suddenly, he got an idea. "Severus, have you tried using legilimency to look through her memories?"

Severus gave him a patronizing look."Of course I tried!" he snapped, "Unfortunately, I couldn't."

Remus raised an eyebrow. A person who could keep Severus Snape out of their mind must be very powerful. "She must be a very good at occlumency," Remus remarked.

"Yes. Either that or someone put powerful blocks around her mind," Severus said. Remus furrowed his eyebrows in confusion but before he could ask what he meant by that, the door opened and students began to file out. Adele was last to leave.

"Severus, Remus, what a pleasant surprise." Adele said with a smile, "Are you two escorting me to lunch?"

"I'm afraid I can't. I have to prepare for my lesson for the second years," Remus told her apologetically.

"That's too bad. What about you, Severus? Would you like to have lunch with me?" Adele asked sweetly.

"I would be delighted to take you to lunch," Severus answered. Remus gaped at him as he led Adele away. Did Severus just forget their entire conversation? Or was he being as spiteful as he always was?

* * *

"Did Snape just say he'd be delighted?" Ron asked, peering around the corner. He was shocked that Snape was delighted to do anything. He was usually just a miserable, greasy, old bat.

"More importantly, did he just flirt with a woman who looks like my mother?" Harry wondered, feeling a little disgusted at that thought.

"Ron, Ginny said that Bill knows Professor Caro. Do you know how they know each other?" Hermione asked.

"No, I don't usually listen to Bill's work stories. Maybe you should ask Ginny. While you do that, I think Harry and I will spy on Snape," Ron remarked. Hermione rolled her eyes and walked away.

"Hey Ron, I think Crookshanks is stalking Scabbers again." Harry told him gravely, pointing out the window where Crookshanks was indeed following Scabbers. Ron muttered something like "Bloody cat" before running outside to save his pet rat. Harry quickly threw on the invisibly cloak and ran past a still stunned Professor Lupin in order to catch up with Snape and Professor Caro.

* * *

Ginny walked out of her Transfiguration class and bumped into Hermione.

"Oh sorry, Ginny. I was trying to get out of Colin's way. He looks excited about something." Hermione explained.

"Oh, he thought he saw the giant squid and wants to take a picture of it," Ginny told her, "So what's up?"

"I was wondering how Bill knew Professor Caro. Hopefully you pay attention to your brother." Hermione answered with an eye roll.

"Well there was a problem with the goblins in Spain. Bill was told to go deal with it and he met Professor Caro at the Spanish bank. Bill said that she was withdrawing something for the school. I don't know exactly why, but they became pen pals. They talk on a daily basis." Ginny explained.

"Does he know a lot about her past?" Hermione asked.

"She grew up in a muggle orphanage until she went to school," Ginny replied, "After that she lived at the school and taught there too."

"Is there any records of her before she went to school?" Hermione asked.

"I don't know. I can ask him if you want," Ginny offered.

"That would be great. Thanks."

And so the mystery continued.


	3. Research

Remus Lupin sat on a bench outside the Auror Headquarters. He checked his watch; it was a little after noon. According to her mother, Tonks should have just finished her training session.

Remus was a little bit nervous. He was asking Tonks a big favor. Plus, Tonks was inexperienced; but she was the only Auror he sort-of knew. Besides, the other Aurors might tell Dumbledore what he was up to. And that would not be good.

"Remus John Lupin!" Remus was pulled out of his thoughts when Tonks tackled him with a big hug, "I can't believe it! How long has it been, twelve years? Too long anyway."

"It's good to see you too! I'm actually teaching at Hogwarts now." Remus told her with a small smile.

"That's fantastic, I want to hear everything. How about we get some lunch?" Tonks asked, "I know a great muggle restaurant that serves the greatest hamburgers ever. You might even be able get your hamburger rare."

"Yes, I would. I actually need to talk to you anyway, I need a favour." Remus replied as they walked out of the Ministry.

"Remus, you know you can ask me to do anything," Tonks said firmly.

"Good, but before you say yes, I should tell you that this might be dangerous and you can't tell anyone." Remus remarked.

"I'll do it," Tonks answered grinning. Remus sighed. She was definitely Sirius Black's cousin.

* * *

Remus entered the teachers' lounge and poured himself a cup of coffee.

"Lupin," a cold voice greeted him. Remus jumped. He spun around and saw Snape was sitting in an armchair.

"Where did you come from?" Remus spluttered. He could have sworn that the room was empty when he came in.

"What did you do?" Snape asked coolly.

"Nothing," Remus replied.

"Oh really? Then why did you go see Miss Tonks today, I understand she's training to be an auror." Snape questioned. Remus groaned inwardly. How could he have possibly have found out about his visit with Tonks?

"I just wanted to see her. I haven't seen her in twelve years," Remus answered, not wanting to look at Snape's accusing eyes.

"I see. And did you happen to talk to her about a trip she is taking?" Snape inquired.

"She's going somewhere? I didn't know that." Remus lied. He wished that he had actually taken the lying lessons James and Sirius had offered to give him when they were in their sixth year.

"You're worse liar than Potter's son," Snape snarled, "I told you to stay out of this."

"Actually you told me to stay away from her. And furthermore you have no authority over me." Remus told him firmly, "Besides I seem to remember someone offering to take Adele to lunch. The person who should be staying away is the one who called Lily a mudblood."

Snape's black eyes blazed with fury.

"How dare you!" he shouted, whipping out his wand and pointing it at Remus' throat.

"Let me tell you how I dare. I know why you want Lily back, you want a second chance with her and you want her to pick you this time instead of James." Remus said angrily.

"Potter didn't deserve her." Snape growled.

"And you did?" Remus scoffed, before walking away.

* * *

"What in the bloody hell is all that?" Ron asked as Hermione and Ginny came in to the common room, holding a bunch of newspapers in their arms. Harry and he were playing chess when they came in.

"Thirty-three issues of El Diario Profetas," Ginny answered, sounding proud. Ron looked confused and Ginny rolled her eyes, "The Spanish version of the Daily Prophet. Bill brought these home, remember?"

"No, but where did you get the older ones and, more importantly, why did you get thirty-three issues of them?" Ron asked.

"Honestly Ronald, how are we supposed to figure out who Professor Caro is if we don't have any information on her?" Hermione remarked.

"So what are we going to look for?" Harry asked.

"Her name, the name of the orphanage she lived in, the school she went to and taught at." Hermione replied, "My parents bought me highlighters so I thought they might be useful." She handed Ginny, Harry and Ron highlighters.

"What are highlighters?" Ron asked, looking at it weirdly.

"They're pens that have luminous ink," Harry answered.

"What are pens?" Ron questioned.

"Just use them the way you'd use a quill," Hermione told him firmly.

"Um, Hermione, you do realize that these newspapers are in Spanish and we don't know any Spanish," Ginny remarked. Hermione sighed and grabbed the highlighters back.

"I guess I'll do it myself," Hermione muttered.

"Wait, Colin knows a little Spanish and so does Neville. I'll go get them." Ginny suggested.

"That might not be a good idea. I don't think either of them can keep a secret and I don't think anyone should know why we're looking for info on Professor Caro." Harry remarked.

"They already know why. Neville's mum was friends with your mum so he knows what she looked like and Colin did some… research on your family," Ginny told him. Hermione, Ron and Harry gave her an odd look. "He was just curious." She said and went up to the boy's dormitory to find them.

"Hey Hermione, is that your cat?" Ron asked. Hermione turned around to see that Crookshanks was on the windowsill and he was holding a letter in his mouth. Crookshanks jumped off the windowsill and into Harry's lap. He then dropped it into Harry's lap.

Harry picked up the letter and unfolded it before reading it out loud.

_"Dear Harry,_

_I heard about Adele Caro coming to teach at your school and I understand that you're curious about her and your mother's similarities. Your Aunt Petunia is able to help you understand but she doesn't know everything, only a small part of it._

_Beware of the rat._

_Snuffles,"_ Harry read.

"Who is Snuffles and what did he mean 'beware of the rat'?" Ron wondered.

"More importantly; how did he know that we looking for information about Professor Caro?" Hermione asked.

"I don't know but I think I better go back to the Dursleys for the holidays." Harry remarked, frowning slightly.

"Harry, maybe we should take this letter to Professor Dumbledore," Hermione suggested, "This Snuffles person could be dangerous."

"He's not. Something tells me that he's not."


	4. Old Friends

Remus was sure that after his talk with Snape, Snape would probably go running to Dumbledore and tell him that Remus had sent Tonks to find information of Adele for Remus. But many days passed and he didn't hear anything from either Dumbledore or Snape. It confused, frustrated and worried Remus to no end. Finally Remus decided to confront Snape and ask him what was going on.

"Severus, may I have a word with you?" Remus asked, knocking on the door of the Charms classroom. Severus had temporally moved there while the portable swamp, Fred and George put in the dungeons, was cleaned up.

"Certainly. What would you like to talk about?" Severus asked him sourly, not looking up from the papers he was reading and grading. Remus quickly put a locking and a silencing charm on the door, so no one would disturb them.

"I need to talk to about the conversation we had a week ago," Remus replied. Severus looked up and him. Confusion written all over his pale face, an expression one rarely saw on Severus' face.

"What conversation?" Severus questioned. It was now Remus turn to be confused. Had Severus forgotten?

"The one we had about Tonks," Remus explained.

"I do not recall speaking to you about Miss Tonks," Severus said dryly, his black eyes boring into Remus. Remus realized, much too late, that Severus was using Legilimency on him.

Severus stood up, his eyes blazing.

"You son of a-" Severus shouted. Suddenly, his eyes turned blank and he slumped back into his chair. Remus looked around for the source and he saw a black haired man pull off James' invisibility cloak, his wand still pointed at Snape. He had an impish smile on his face as he looked at Remus.

Remus' eyes widened. For the first time in twelve years, Remus was face to face with Sirius Orion Black.

"Need a hand, Moony?" he asked with a laugh.

Remus wasn't quite sure what to do. For one thing, Sirius sold out Lily and James and wanted to kill Harry. But the fact that he had just saved Remus from Snape's wrath and he didn't seem like he was going to attack, made Remus think twice about hurting him.

"Sirius, what did you do?" Remus asked, his voice shaky.

"What? You mean to Snape? I just obliverated the memory of your meeting with my cousin and your talk with him," Sirius explained, "I did it a few days ago but you had to go and talk to him. Same old Moony. You always presumed that you should get punished for something even when you did nothing wrong."

"I have so many questions right now," Remus remarked, still shocked.

"I'm afraid your questions will have to wait. I have to go now. But before I do, I should tell you to call Tonks back. She's not going to find anything in Spain," Sirius told him, putting on James' cloak.

"Wait. How did you even get-" Remus stopped talking when he heard a knock on the door. He quickly took the charms off it and opened it. Adele was standing outside. Remus hastily closed the door behind him so Adele wouldn't see Severus still knocked out.

"Hola, Remus, I was just looking for you. I've have had a meal with every one of my colleagues but you. So I insist that we have dinner together," Adele told him with a smile, "Besides after what I heard from all the teachers, you and I have much to discuss."

She linked arms with Remus and they walked down towards the Great Hall.

* * *

"Ron, have you seen my invisibility cloak?" Harry asked, searching through his trunk for his cloak.

"No, I haven't," Ron told him, not really paying attention. He was more focused on reading the newly translated newspaper. Hermione had insisted that they each read a newspaper every day. She had even set up a time for when they would meet each day after they finished.

"Can you stop reading to help me look?" Harry inquired crossly.

"I can't. Hermione wants us to meet in twenty minutes and I'm only halfway done," Ron answered. Harry rolled his eyes and kept digging through his trunk.

"The strange thing is I could have sworn that I-" Harry began.

"Wait, what did you say?" Ron asked.

"I said the strange thing is-" Harry started to say only to be cut off by Ron again.

"That's it! That's the Death Eater, Bill was talking about!" Ron exclaimed pleased that he had figured this out.

"What Death Eater?" Harry asked, not understanding what on earth Ron was talking about.

"You said the strange but it sounded like you said Le Strange. Bellatrix Lestrange, her husband and brother in law were major Death Eaters a while back. And Bellatrix Lestrange was the Death Eater, Bill said Professor Caro got nervous about," Ron explained.

"We tell better tell Hermione that we've got another lead," Harry remarked.

"Can we wait? You know she'll be mad if she find out I didn't read the whole newspaper," Ron reminded him.

"You did have the whole day," Harry commented. Ron glared at him before going back to the newspaper.

* * *

Crookshanks made his way to the Whomping Willow. He went down into the tunnel that led him to the Shrieking Shack.

Inside sat a bespectacled black haired man. He looked away from the window when the cat came in.

"Back for another saucer of milk, Crookshanks?" he asked with a grin. Crookshanks leapt up into the man's lap, dropped a piece of parchment from his jaws and then curled up into a ball so the man could pet him.

The man read the piece parchment as he pet Crookshanks.

"Good cat. These are the passwords for the Gryffindor tower, right? These'll come in handy. Padfoot gave the Fat Lady quite a scare the last time he tried to get to that miserable rat," the man said with a dry chuckle.

The door swung open again and Sirius strolled in.

"I've got good news and bad news," he said, putting the invisibility cloak on the door, "The good news is that I wiped Snape's mind of the memory of Moony meeting Tonks. The bad news is I think your wife is going to run off with Remus."

The man rolled his eyes.

"Very funny. Now do you remember when I said don't try to get past the Fat Lady, you'll only scare her and you did it anyway," he remarked, "Well Crookshanks here has something that'll make up for your recklessness. A list of passwords."

"That's one smart cat," Sirius commented, patting Crookshanks on the head before extending his hand to take the list of passwords.

"Oh no, I'm doing this one, Pads. Everyone will be extra alert seeing you tried to destroy the Fat Lady," he told Sirius, "Wouldn't want to freak them out."

"Like you won't freak them out. You should be dead," Sirius reminded him.

"Exactly, so they won't be expecting me." Sirius sighed.

"Fine. But you better not doing anything stupid," Sirius snapped.

"Isn't that your department, Padfoot?" the man joked.

"Shut up, Prongs," Sirius said crossly, rolling his eyes at his laughing friend.


	5. Don't Blame Me

James walked up the stairs towards the Gryffindor Tower. A part of him wanted to stray to make a detour and see his wife, but he knew that he had to focus on the mission. Peter was the top priority. Peter first and Lily second.

Mrs. Norris was lying on the top step. She looked straight at James, making James nervous that she could see him even with the invisibility cloak on. James wished he could kick Mrs. Norris away from him but then she would yowl and send Filch running to her. And James knew that Flich catching him would be the worst. Well second worst, first would be Snape catching him.

So James just stepped over her and kept walking. He reached the portrait in front of the common room. James laughed when he saw who it was: Sir Cadogan. This would be easier then he thought.

"Who's there?" Sir Cadogan asked, blinking sleepily. James quickly read the passwords off the parchment. He hoped that Sir Cadogan would be too tired to ask who was telling him the passwords. As luck would have it, Cadogan swung to the side, allowing James to go into the Gryffindor common room.

James placed the parchment in his pocket and took out a knife. It was time. James felt doubt fill him as he walked up the stairs to the third year boys' dormitory. He wasn't sure if he wanted to kill Peter.

Peter used to be his friend. Peter used to idolize him. Peter used to care about them. But now, Peter was a traitor. Peter was a Death Eater. Peter was the enemy. Peter had betrayed them to Voldemort. And for twelve years, James had been separate from his family because of Peter. He would be damned if he was ever going to let that happen again.

James walked over to Weasley's bed. He drew the curtains. And there was Peter sleeping soundly on the end of the bed.

James' blood boiled. How could the rat sleep so soundly when he had done so much wrong? Any doubt and regret, James felt disappeared and all he could feel now was disgust and rage.

James wanted the last thing for Peter to see was him so he took of his invisibility cloak.

"Goodbye, old friend," James whispered, raising the knife, ready to strike him.

Suddenly he heard a bloodcurdling scream coming from the other end of the bed. James turned his head slightly to see that Weasley was awake and staring at him with a mixture of shock and horror.

James ran. He didn't even bother grabbing the invisibility cloak. He just ran as fast as he could.

* * *

"And I'm the one who does stupid things," Sirius said annoyed, "Why in bloody hell would you take off the cloak? And why didn't you bring your wand? Honestly, Prongs, you should think things through a little more."

"First of all, yeah, because getting yourself arrested isn't worse," James snapped sarcastically, "Second of all, I wanted the last thing he saw to be me. It was supposed to be symbolic."

"It was stupid because he was asleep," Sirius reminded him, "Now he knows you're out there looking to kill him, he'll probably fake his death again. So congratulations, you've just ruined everything."

James sent him an incredulous look, "I ruined everything! Hey, this whole thing was your idea!" James shouted.

Sirius glared at him. "Are you blaming me for Peter's betrayal?" he growled, his hands were curled into fists.

"Well it wasn't my idea to make him secret keeper. Nor was it Lily's idea or Harry's," James snapped, "And it certainly wasn't our idea to go to the Lovegoods for help. So yes, I am blaming you."

"Go to hell, Potter." Sirius snarled.

"Let's see, my son has to live with my horrible in-laws. My wife doesn't remember who I am or anything about our life together and is letting Snape hit on her. And I can't do anything about either of them until I kill my friend. I'm already in hell, Black." James said bitterly.

"Oh boohoo. That's nothing. No one blames you for anything. I'm the escaped prisoner of Azkaban who people are sure I'm going to kill my godson," Sirius snapped, "I spent twelve years as a convict while you were on vacation!"

"Vacation!" James repeated, "You think I was on vacation! Let me tell you something, it was not-"

"Would both of you shut up! You're giving me a bigger headache then you usually do. Fighting amongst yourselves is not going to help." a new voice from the doorway remarked.

* * *

"Ron, you were dreaming," Hermione said firmly, "James Potter did not try to kill you."

"I'm telling you I saw him," Ron snapped, "He was standing over me with a knife in his hand about to stab me. It was either him or it was Harry from the future with brown eyes."

"It couldn't have been him. He's dead, Ron," Hermione said with a sigh, "And time travel doesn't work like that. You were dreaming. It's as simple as that. You probably just dreamt of Harry's dad."

"But why would I dream about Harry's dad and why would I dream that he was trying to kill me?" Ron asked.

"Maybe you should talk to Trelawny. She might be able to tell you what your dream meant." Neville suggested. Hermione rolled her eyes. She didn't think Trelawny would be of much help at all.

"I didn't dream it!" Ron shouted.

"I don't think Ron dreamed it," Harry spoke up as he walked down from his dormitory, "Look what I found lying in a pile in front of Ron's bed." He held up his invisibility cloak that he had been looking for nearly a week now.

"Hey, didn't Sir Cadogan say that he didn't see who was giving him the passwords?" Neville remarked. Ron grinned at Hermione.

"Still think it was a dream?" he asked smugly. Hermione glared at him.

"It still couldn't have been James Potter," she snapped.

"Do you think someone was posing as him?" Harry suggested, "Black could have used the polyjuice potion and just went to the wrong bed."

"I'm not sure if that works if the person you're impersonating is dead," Hermione remarked.

"Hermione, not sure of something? What is the world coming to?" Ron joked. Hermione ignored him.

"I better go to the library and see." Hermione told them, getting up. But before she could leave, Ginny and a dirty blonde haired girl came into the common room.

"Guys, this is Luna Lovegood," Ginny introduced, "Luna has some information on Adele Caro."

.

.


	6. Important Details

"So what do you know about Adele Caro?" Harry asked as Luna sat down.

"I don't know much. All I know is that twelve years ago, my dad and mum did an experiment that involved her," Luna answered.

"What do you mean experiment?" Harry questioned, not liking the sound of that.

"My parents experiment with magic. Nothing harmful. Anyway during summer vacation, my dad was out, looking for Crumple Horned Snorkack and I was at home…" Luna began.

"I'm sorry, he was looking for what?" Hermione interrupted, looking bewildered.

"Crumple Horned Snorkack," Luna answered.

"I don't think those exist," Hermione said politely.

"Not many people have seen them but they do exist," Luna told her with a bright smile. Hermione opened her mouth to argue. Ginny quickly cut her off before she could say anything.

"Moving on. Luna, what did you find in your dad's study?" Ginny inquired.

"I found his notebook. He has written about a bunch of expriments he and my Mum did together. But on the last page all he had written was four names," Luna replied. "James and Lily Potter. Adele Caro and Remy Macon."

"Who's Remy Macon?" Ron asked.

"I have no idea," Luna told him. "The notebook also had two spells that I have never seen before. Effingo and Transferro."

"Did the notebook say anything else?" Neville questioned curiously. Luna shook her head.

"Maybe we should ask Professor Flitwick about those two spells," Hermione suggested.

* * *

"Is that really you, Moony?" James asked in surprise.

"I could ask you the same question," Remus remarked. "I'm not the one who was supposed to be dead for twelve years. Now just to check, what Professor did you have a screaming match with in our fourth year and why?"

"I believe it was with Professor Copper and it was because he called werewolves mangy beasts who needed to be put to sleep," James answered. Remus never looked happier to be reminded of that horrid teacher. "My turn. When did Lily first kiss me?"

"Well you kissed her loads of times before this but she kissed you in our fourth year on your birthday because she lost a bet with Sirius," Remus replied. James's eyes widened and he glared at Sirius.

"That's why she kissed me? Because you forced her to," he snapped. Sirius looked sheepish.

"Well I couldn't think what else to get you for your birthday," Sirius told him lamely. James shook his head at him before going over to Remus and hugging him.

"Good to see you, mate. But how did you know I was alive?" James asked curiously.

"Did you think, Mr. Weasley wouldn't mention seeing you last night?" Remus inquired. "But I'm still confused on a few details. How did you and Lily survive? Why is Lily acting as though she doesn't remember anything? And why on earth didn't you tell me you switched secret keepers?"

"It's a long story," James answered.

"I have some time. Please tell me," Remus told him, sitting down on a chair.

"Okay, it all started when Sirius bumped into that weird woman, you know Lovegood's wife when he was shopping for Harry's birthday present," James began.

* * *

July 21 1981

Sirius groaned. Harry's first birthday was in ten days and he still didn't know what to buy him. What would someone buy a one year old? He didn't want to lame like Remus and buy him a book for James and Lily to read to him. But still Sirius wanted to buy his godson something special.

Sirius had been so busy thinking that he wasn't looking where he was going. And he bumped into a dirty blonde haired woman.

"Oh my apologies. I wasn't watching where I was going. I was too busy reading the Quibbler," the woman said cheerfully.

"The Quibbler?" Sirius asked, wondering what on earth a Quibbler was.

"It's a magazine written by my husband. It is quite interesting. This issue is all about ancient magic," she answered with a smile. "I was just handing out some of them. Would you like one?"

"Sure, it sounds like it could be a fun read," Sirius remarked. The woman pulled out a Quibbler from her handbag and handed it to him.

"Enjoy," she said sweetly before walking away.

Sirius opened it and flipped through the pages. There was an article about Godric Gryffindor's animagus form being a squid. Sirius was about to close the magazine and throw it away when he spotted another article that caught his interest.

He read it three times to make sure he was reading correctly. He looked back at the front page to see who the editor was. Xenophilius Lovegood. A boy, Sirius remembered, him and James made fun of.

"Harry's present can wait. I think I need to pay Xenophilius a visit. I just hope he doesn't hold any grudges," Sirius muttered, apparating away.

* * *

"What was the article?" Remus asked, curiously.

"I don't remember what it's name was. But that's not important. After talking to Xenophilius, Sirius went to talk to me, Lily and Peter. We couldn't talk to you because we thought you were…." James began. Remus gave him a dirty look. "Too smart," James finished lamely.

Remus rolled his eyes before he looked serious again.

"Wait, does that mean that Peter knows about this?" Remus questioned.

"Well yeah. This before we knew he was a traitor," Sirius answered.

"And he knows that James is here, trying to kill him," Remus remarked. "And he also knows that Lily is here." Sirius and James nodded. "Don't you realize what that means? He could attack Lily!"

James and Sirius' eyes widened. They knew that Peter would probably try to escape but they had not thought about what he would do to Lily.

"We have to go find her!" James exclaimed frantically, already running to the door. Sirius stopped him.

"No, you stay here," Sirius told him. James opened his mouth to protest but Sirius quickly reminded him, "If Lily sees you, it could be damaging while she's still under the spell."

* * *

"Ugh." Severus looked up from the Gryffindors papers he was grading a.k.a putting Ts on. Adele was standing in the doorway.

"Adele, are you all right?" he asked, concerned.

"No, not really," Adele answered. "Ever since yesterday, I've had this huge headache. Can I have a pepper up potion?" she asked hopefully.

"Of course, I have some stored in the back," Severus told her. "I'll get some for you."

"Oh don't worry about it. I'll get some, you keep being cruel to the Gryffindors," Adele said with a dry chuckle. She walked into his storage room. A few minutes later, the door flew opened and Remus and Sirius came running in.

"What's the meaning of this, Lupin?" Severus asked angrily. "What is he doing here? Don't tell me, I was right and you have been helping Black?"

"You're never right," Sirius snapped. "Now where is she?" Severus glared at him and stepped in front of the door that led to the storage room. He took out his wand and pointed it at the two of them.

"You won't hurt her," he growled. "I won't let you touch her." Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Once again, you have the uncanny ability to totally misread a situation," Sirius said with a hallow laugh.

"We're trying to help her. You see, Peter is…" Remus began.

"I don't want to hear your lies. You were helping him all this time, after what he did to Lily!" Severus shouted. He angrily shot a spell towards Sirius. Sirius ducked before it could hit him. Unfortunately it hit the person standing in the doorway.

"Harry!" Remus and Sirius spun around to see Ron and Hermione standing next to Harry who was on the floor, clutching his bleeding arm.

"Severus, for goodness sake, let me see what happened!" Adele had come back out to see what all the commotion was about and Severus was trying very hard to be in between Sirius and Adele.

"Lily Evans is Pele!" Sirius exclaimed. Remus gave him a funny look, not knowing why Sirius had shouted that.

Adele let out a scream and sank to the floor. Severus put his hands on her arms, trying to get her to stand again. There was a loud clap of thunder.

"SIRIUS ORION BLACK, YOU'RE DEAD MEAT WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU!" Lily Potter shouted angrily.


	7. An Explanation Finally

_**Okay, guys, this is coming to the end. One more chapter and it's finished. I'm so proud of myself for sticking with this story. I'm sorry but there will be no sequel. **_

_**Thank you so much for reading. And thank you for my 100 reviews. Love you all. Thank you so very much.  
**_

* * *

Lily sent Remus to get James and Severus to escort the trio to the Hospital wing. Which left Sirius and she all alone in Severus' office much to Sirius' discomfort.

"You look beautiful, Lily. You look absolutely stunning. Did you do something new with your hair?" Sirius asked weakly, taking a step back from a fuming Lily. Lily's deadly glare caused him to fall silent.

"You said that this plan would work," Lily snapped. "You said that it was foolproof. That nothing could go wrong. You said that no one would get hurt and James, Harry and I would be together and we would be safe."

"In my defense, we didn't know Peter was the traitor," Sirius reminded her.

"No, we didn't," Lily agreed, calming down a little bit. "And I'm sure that you haven't been enjoying yourself for the last twelve years either. Which reminds me, you better go tell Dumbledore about this so he call off the man hunt."

"I kinda already told Dumbledore about this before the start of this year. I even made him swear an unbreakable vow not to tell anyone," Sirius told her firmly. Lily spun around.

"The start of this year!" she exclaimed. "It took you this long to bring me back."

"Well I had to find James first and he was all the way in France," Sirius said quickly. "Don't forget I had to say the passwords to both of you."

"I know. I'm just frustrated. I was so close to Harry all this time and I didn't even know it," Lily said softly. "And now, I'm not sure what to say or do. What if he doesn't want to talk to me? What if he considers Petunia his mother now?"

"I assure you that is quite impossible. I don't think he even considers your sister as a human being let alone his mother," Sirius remarked with a chuckle. "Now come on. I'm sure you want to see Harry now. And when James gets here, you guys can have a sappy family reunion. I bet Moony five gallons that James will cry."

"You are so immature," Lily commented as she walked out of the dungeons, shaking her head at him as she went.

"I'll take that as a compliment, Lils," Sirius shouted after her with an impish grin.

* * *

Remus walked down the passageway and into the Shrieking Shack. He just reached the door to the room they had left James in when he heard shouting. Remus quickly whipped out his wand and threw the door open.

Peter was standing over James whose hands and legs were tied together with ropes.

"You were our friend!" James shouted.

"No, I wasn't I was nothing but your follower. The guy you kicked around when Snape wasn't there for you to play with," Peter spat. "You never thought of me as an equal, just a tagalong. The Dark Lord sees me as a somebody powerful. He doesn't doubt my abilities."

"Well let's see if he comes running to your side when you're in prison," Remus snapped. But before he could send a single spell, he felt a pain on his back as though it was splitting opened.

"Remus!" James shouted. Then his eyes narrowed at the man standing over Remus' body.

"Stupid werewolf. At least Pettigrew had the good sense to call for back up," Lucius Malfoy drawled. "Sorry, I'm late. Shall I kill the filthy beast?"

"No, we need him to pass along the message so the Dark Lord can use Ja-Potter as bait," Peter answered.

"You were our friend. How could you do this to us?" James asked angrily. Peter said nothing, he just put a gag around James' mouth, muffling the swear words, James was shouting.

* * *

"So you're really my mum?" Harry asked curiously.

"Yes," Lily said tearfully. "And you're my son." She hugged him tightly.

"Lily, I don't mean to intrude on this touching moment but I believe we're owed an explanation on how you and James survived and why you spent twelve years as different people," Dumbledore said curiously.

"Of course you do, Albus," Lily agreed, still holding onto Harry as though she was afraid he would disappear if she let go of him. "Well Sirius went to talk to Xenophilius because he read an interesting article on duplicating people."

"Duplicating? Like cloning?" Hermione asked as she and Ron stood awkwardly by the side. Lily smiled at her.

"I see that you've read some muggle science fiction. Well it wasn't exactly cloning. Xenophilius said he could duplicate our bodies and place our memories in the duplicates while we had our own memories changed and were sent to different parts of Europe," Lily explained.

"Fascinating," Dumbledore said in awe. "So it wasn't you two that died that Halloween night, it was your duplicates."

"Exactly."

"But why wasn't I duplicated?" Harry asked.

"Because Xenophilius' wife said it would be very dangerous to use this kind of magic on an infant," Lily answered. "So after James and I put the duplicates in our places we instructed Peter and Sirius to move you into a different house that night. Unfortunately, we didn't know Peter was a traitor," Lily replied.

"He still is a traitor," Sirius told them as he and Remus came into the Hospital room. Remus was covered in blood. And Sirius had to help him on to a bed.

"What happened?" Lily asked, fearing the answer.

"Peter and an accomplice attacked James and me. I think they're taking him to Voldemort," Remus answered.

"Then Voldemort will know what we did," Lily said fearfully. "We need to intercept them before they do that."

"How?" Sirius asked. Before Lily could answer, two aurors came into the room.

"We received a call from Lucius Malfoy that Sirius Black was spotted in here," Kingsley told them. Kingsley and Moody walked towards Sirius.

"Wait, I'm Lily Potter," Lily told them, getting up and stepping in front of Sirius. "Sirius isn't guilty."

"Lily Potter? But you're supposed to be dead," Moody said, looking perplexed for the first time in his life.

"Well I'm not and Sirius Black is not guilty," Lily said firmly. "And Mr. Malfoy helped the real culprit ambush my husband."

"Ma'am, I think you should come with us. We better go to the Minster," Kingsley said gently.

"You're not taking her anywhere," Severus snarled, standing up.

"But of course they can take me and let the Dementors have me for all you care," Sirius muttered.

"Enough!" Dumbledore exclaimed. "We'll sort everything at this Ministry. Minerva, I want you to go to Xenophilius and warn him that Voldemort could be after him. I will escort Lily and Sirius to the Ministry."

"What about my dad?" Harry asked worriedly.

"Severus will try to find them," Dumbledore answered. Severus did not look happy about his assignment but with one look from Lily, he obeyed.

"What about us?" Harry asked. "What should we do?"

"Stay here and stay out of trouble," Lily replied firmly, kissing the top of Harry's head. Then she looked at him for a minute, remembering whose son he was and how hard it was for his father to stay out of trouble. According to Remus, Harry was just like James in that sense. So Lily turned to Remus. "Keep an eye on him please."


	8. Family Reunion

"This is impossible. Lily Potter is dead and so is Peter Pettigrew," Fudge said firmly. Lily sighed and shook her head. Of all the people who could become Minister, why did it have to be Cornelius Fudge? She had known him briefly in Hogwarts. He was Head boy when she had become a prefect. He was very set in his ways and didn't like it when anyone contradicted him.

"If you would like, I'll take Veritaserum and you'll have proof that I'm Lily Potter," Lily told him crossly.

"Hem, hem, I don't think we need to waste the Ministry's resources. If this woman believes she is Lily Potter then perhaps you should send her to St. Mungos," Dolores Umbridge suggested. Lily groaned. Umbridge and Fudge together. What had she done to deserve this?

"I quite agree, Dolores. James and Lily Potter are dead, we found their bodies," Fudge said, nodding his head in agreement. "So Kingsly and Moody will escort you to St. Mungos and we'll let the healers deal with you." If looks could kill, Fudge would be dead thanks to Lily, Sirius and Severus.

"We survived Voldemort's attack and if you just listen, I can tell you how," Lily snapped.

"I'm afraid that the word of a convicted prisoner and a mad woman won't convince me so unless you can find another witness, I will ask the aurors to…" Fudge began, only to be interrupted by Dumbledore.

"By happy coincidence we can," Dumbledore remarked cheerfully.

"And who would that be?" Fudge asked crossly.

"I believe you know Xenophilius Lovegood," Dumbledore replied as Minerva and Xenophilius walked in.

"Hem, hem. I don't think that this man will be a credible witness," Umbridge said loftily. "His articles are as mad as the notion that James and Lily are alive. He can't possibly be able to tell us anything."

"Now, now, Dolores, it wouldn't hurt to hear him out," Amelia Bones said softly. "This woman does look exactly like Lily Potter. And you refused to let her take the truth potion." Lily smiled. Finally, someone with brains. Of course, Lily was sure that this might have had something to do with the fact that Lily had saved Amelia's life on occasion.

"So Mr. Lovegood," Fudge said reluctantly. "Can you tell us why James and Lily Potter are alive?"

"Certainly," Xenophilius said cheerfully. "It all started on the Monday, my wife and I were looking into buying a horn from a Crumple Horned Snorkack."

"A what?" Fudge asked, looking annoyed.

"Ah yes, there are this creatures I'm researching," Xenophilius answered.

"Get on with the story, you loon!" Sirius shouted, jumping up from his seat, causing the aurors to restrain him.

* * *

"Where are they?" Severus asked as he walked into the Malfoy Manor, Tonks followed him.

"Hi Auntie," Tonks greeted her cheerfully as though Narcissa and she had a warm relationship instead only knowing her from the holiday cards her mother got. Tonks' former Professor glared at her.

"Severus, what are you doing here?" Narcissa asked in surprise, ignoring Tonk's presence.

"Narcissa, where are Lucius, Potter and Pettigrew?" Severus repeated.

"I don't understand," Narcissa said. "Aren't Potter and Pettigrew dead?"

"Don't play dumb," Severus snapped. "Where are they?"

"Lucius is away on business. If you want to talk to him, he'll be back tomorrow," Narcissa lied, swallowing.

"We know that Lucius and Pettigrew kidnapped Potter and if your husband is captured, he'll go back to Azkaban and I'll be telling the aurors everything I know about Lucius being a Death Eater," Severus told her firmly.

"Severus, you wouldn't! He's your best friend!" Narcissa exclaimed, horrified.

"No, you're mistaken, my best friend is the wife of the man your husband has captive," Severus reminded her.

"Severus, think about it. If the Dark Lord kills Potter, you can have that woman all to yourself," Narcissa remarked, using the last bargaining chip she had. "Potter deserves to die. Remember how he treated you. Remember what he took from you."

"Where are they?" Severus repeated his questioned, seemingly unfazed by this.

"I won't tell you. Unlike you, I will stand by my family and friends. And I won't betray them," Narcissa spat angrily, knowing full well that would strike a nerve in Severus and from the furious look on Severus' face, she was right.

"HOW DARE YOU!" Severus shouted, whipping out his wand.

"Severus, don't!" Andromeda exclaimed.

"I thought we might need back-up," Tonks explained.

"Sorry, I'm late. Severus, Nymphadora, would you please give me a minute with my sister," Andromeda pleaded.

"We don't have a minute," Severus growled.

"You don't have much of a choice, now do you?" Andromeda reminded him. Severus glared at her but he left the living room with Tonks following him. "Are you all right, Narcissa?"

"I'm fine," Narcissa snapped, wiping her wet eyes with her hands. "Now say what you have to say and leave."

"I agree with you. You have to stand by your friends and family. If you don't, who will be with you when you need someone," Andromeda remarked with a soft laugh. Narcissa said nothing. "Narcissa, Lily and James Potter have been separated from their son and each other for about twelve years."

"I know that. What's your point? Narcissa asked.

"How would you feel if you were separated from Draco for twelve years or Lucius? How does it feel to be separated from Bellatrix?" Andromeda inquired. "Oh how about me? I know you missed me because I missed you too."

"Lucius is getting a portkey from Kocktern Alley," Narcissa said softly, hugging her sister.

* * *

"I've been sprung!" Sirius laughed, pouring himself a drink. "Ah, firewhiskey, I've missed you most of all."

"What about James, Lily, Harry and me?" Remus asked with a shake of his head.

"Yeah, yeah, you guys are okay," Sirius remarked, sipping the firewhiskey.

"Have they feeding you at all?" Lily asked worriedly, hugging Harry tightly. "I'm going to kill Petunia, Vernon and their son. My poor baby."

The door flew open and James sauntered in, he was grinning ear from ear.

Sirius and Remus jumped up, for different reasons. Sirius went to run and hug his best mate but Remus stopped him.

"Let Lily and Harry go first," Remus hissed.

"Why? He was my friend first," Sirius grumbled. Remus whacked the back of his head.

Lily ran to her husband and buried her head in his chest.

"Oh James, I missed you so much. I love you so much," she told him, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"It's okay, Lily Flower, everything's going to be okay," James said sweetly, kissing the top of her head. "Now let me go, I want to say hi to our son." Lily reluctantly obeyed, giving him one last kiss on his lips.

"Hi, Dad," Harry said softly. James grinned at him and grabbed him into a hug, tears shining in his eyes. Lily quickly joined them.

"I see tears, pay up," Sirius said, wiping his own wet eyes.

"You're crying too," Remus reasoned.

"Not the point, pay up," Sirius snapped. Remus sighed. Some things would never change. Not that he would ever want them to.


End file.
